"Jerry Jones is the only person who can actually fix this and he also might be the only person who doesn't know it is broken."- 12/30/13
Daily Commentary on the Dallas Sports Scene - By Bob Sturm - Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket

Friday, March 24, 2006

"I'm just glad the shot went in," said Paulino, who was two-of-eight from the field before his game-winning shot. "I haven't thought about the importance. I'm just living the moment."

The immediate significance for the Longhorns: Texas is one victory away from its second trip to the Final Four in four years. The Longhorns (30-6) will play No. 4 seed LSU (26-8) at 3:40 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia Dome for the right to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis. LSU knocked off top-seeded Duke 62-54 in the other semifinal.

West Virginia had tied the game at 71 on a 3-pointer by Kevin Pittsnogle — one of 15 in the game for the Mountaineers — with five seconds remaining. The Longhorns immediately got the ball inbounds, and A.J. Abrams fed Paulino waiting on the left wing.

"The whole play was just to get down the court and get a shot up and see what happens," Paulino said. "Luckily it went in."

West Virginia (22-11) rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to briefly take the lead in the second half. The Mountaineers wiped out most of the halftime lead with a frantic 54 seconds to begin the second half, which included a pair of 3-pointers.

By the way, the conversation has come up, “has a team ever won the NCAA Football and Basketball titles in the same year?”. Also, Texas is presently the Baseball title holder, too, but it was the previous school year. If any of you have the answer, send it in. Otherwise, I will research that later today.

In fact, here is an email:

Ah-ite Sports Sturm,

I got a sports question for you. If Texas now goes on to win the NCAA tourney (now that Duke and Gonzaga are out of the way, it is definitely possible), has any school ever won a baseball, football, and basketball championship in a calendar year? And if we do, can you just throw Texas bone and admit: We’re Texas… the best that ever was? Never listen…

The Mavericks overcame a seven-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and had a six-point lead with 35 seconds left. But after making 30 consecutive free throws to start the game, the Mavericks missed three of their final eight when Golden State was forced to foul.

That set up a prayer from Richardson that was answered at the buzzer and ruined a sensational 51-point night by Dirk Nowitzki, who was serenaded to Most Valuable Player chants but would have traded everything for a free throw in the final 30 seconds.

Complete financial details were not immediately available, and the two sides were still fine-tuning some elements of the deal late into the night, one team source acknowledged. But sources said the contract is worth approximately $3.5 million per year and that Johnson will receive a $5 million signing bonus on a contract that could be officially signed as early as Friday.

Under Jerry Jones' stewardship the Cowboys had success finding unknown kickers from Chris Boniol to Richie Cunningham to Billy Cundiff.

Last year, that luck ran out, so Thursday the Cowboys jumped into the expensive end of the free-agent kicker pool by signing Mike Vanderjagt to a three-year deal worth $5.5 million, including a $2.5 million signing bonus.

In eight years in Indianapolis, Vanderjagt became the NFL's most accurate kicker in history, making 87.5 percent of his tries (217-of-248). The Cowboys have not had a kicker make 80 percent for a season since 1998.

NASCAR on FOX's rain-out coverage Sunday from Atlanta Motor Speedway posted higher ratings than the NBA and PGA, according to BenMaller.com TV moles.

The Hollywood Hotel's extended rain broadcast with Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond proved to be more popular than an NBA matchup between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and the final round of a PGA event.

Sunday’s rain coverage generated a 3.3/7 overnight rating according to Nielsen Media Research, enough to beat head-to-head competition from a Lakers vs. Cavs NBA game on ABC by +39% (3.3/7 vs. 2.0/4) and the final round of the PGA’s Bay Hill Invitational on NBC by +18% (3.3/7 vs. 2.7/6).

On its first major Cowboys story as the team’s flagship station, KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) stayed true to its tone. Host Bob Sturm gave Owens a decent grilling in his first one-on-one interview as a Cowboy, and pre- and post-press conference roundtables mixed in everything from George Dunham’s unyielding support of the team to Williams’ assertion that Owens is an “a-hole.” So far, concerns about the station cowering to its new master seem to have been exaggerated.

It’s early, but not too premature to appreciate the Cowboys’ shift to The Ticket. Former flagship station KLUV-FM (98.7) probably wouldn’t have carried the press conference live, much less held a forum or taken calls from listeners afterward. So, how much will we not miss KLUV? As one industry insider told me recently, “They made no effort to be informative on the Cowboys. They were an oldies station that just happened have the Cowboys on weekends.” Yikes. –Richie Whitt

Having seen ratings success of late with reality show Pros Vs. Joes, the network’s total audience was still down 16 percent from last year in February, averaging 1.28 million total viewers in prime.

Going forward programming-wise, the network has renewed its contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to allow for four new seasons of the reality series The Ultimate Fighter, 10 live fight cards and 26 hour-long episodes of UFC Unleashed, which features old fights.

Here are his indoor / outdoor stats vs Vinatieri's, including stats for what Yahoo considers kicks when the game is "close" and "close/late"...

VanderjagtIndoors 87.6 (127/145)Outdoors 87.4 (90/103)

VinatieriIndoors 94.4 (34/36)Outdoors 80.4 (229/285)

VanderjagtClose 89.1 (90/101)Close/Late 89.5 (34/38)

VinatieriClose 80.0 (136/170)Close/Late 78.4 (29/37)

I think most people just have his Charlie Brown kick from last season on their mind...

P1 Hank

Wow, those are shocking numbers! And don’t forget tonight’s television news!

Boys,

As we all mourn the passing of Lem, and contemplate the bastard-ness of Shane and rath of Vic, I can understand Bob's grief and inability to find out the exact air times for the syndication of the show on Spike TV.

I fought through it all and checked on SpikeTV.com, and according to the schedule on that site, syndication of The Shield will be Fridays at 9pm and 10:00 (they say 10 and 11, but I assme those are EST times b/c Dish Network says they air here at 9 and 10), with a re-broadcast of what appears to be the same shows on Sunday night at 11:00 pm and midnight (that's local time again).

This Friday at 9:00 is "Pilot" and at 10:00 is "our Gang (Episode #2). Those shows are again scheduled for Sunday at 11:00 and midnight. So two chances to watch.

Next Friday (31st) will be "The Spread" (Ep #3) and "Dawg Days" (Ep #4) (and those two will be re-broadcast Sunday at 11:00 and midnight).

Just wanted everyone to know!

Keep up the good work, and get Lem back on the air ASAP so we can find out what he really thinks about having a grenade in his pants and I assume being out of the show. But as South Park proved last night, he could come back as Darth Lem... And if you don't know what I am talking about with that reference, check out CNN.com's video clips. Those guys hate Tom Cruise more than y'all do.

Sign me a P-1, but keep my name out out of things,please, as I am supposed to be working!

20 comments:

I've tried to argue many times before that Vinatieri is NOT the "best kicker of all time" or anything like it. His percentages just don't hold up to the title, and even though he may be "clutch", in some of those games he had to kick to win because he'd pooched one earlier, and he hasn't hit a 50+ FG in the last 3 seasons.

That being said, he's still a good kicker and I'd be thrilled to have him on my team if I was a coach or GM.

Texas needs to win another baseball championship this year in addition to the basketball championship to claim all the championships in the same calendar year. Baseball was in 2005. And it was last school year. Still great accomplishments but not the same calendar OR school year.

I think P1 Miles ment in the last 12 months, not in 2006. Damn you are the calendar nazi! It is really hard to debate that Texas is the best sports schoold going right now. Can any other school compete with Texas in all 3 major men's sports? Baseball, Football and Basketball? I would be interested to see who comes in 2nd in that race.

Aside from everything that is going on, can we call this franchise in town, "The Franchise that it's own town Forgot."

Your 2006 Dallas Stars

Have you ever noticed a better than good team in a big market get less attention than the Stars? Let me say this... I am not a hockey follower but I am a sports fan. Will this franchise ever be near the forefront like they were back in the Belfour, Hull, Hatcher, Hitchcock days? I really don't think so.

Seeing the re-emerging of the Cowboys, the best regular season Mavericks team ever, and the cranking up of the Rangers (not very popular anymore, but that's for another time) the Stars are left in the dust with the likes of the Desperado's and the Burn.

Let's face it, with the face of the franchise having maybe an MVP year of his own, does anyone care?

Bob....little off the subject but ran into this today. Here's a quote from the Packers' GM (WEEEELLLLLL) on Vince Young after his workout.....

Houston Chron...."General manager Ted Thompson walked away from Young's workout shaking his head in amazement. "That was one hell of a work out," Thompson said. "What impressed me the most was his velocity on all of his throws. And he's just so smooth in everything he does." The Packers used a first round pick on California's Aaron Rodgers last year, so there are doubts that they would take another quarterback. "I'll go back to the Sam Bowie situation-if you have a chance to get Michael Jordan, you get Michael Jordan," Thompson said."

So, what would you think about that? It would serve that jack@$$ right if VY came in and took his place after he cried to Rome about deserving to go to the Rose Bowl only to get his rear handed to him by Tech a couple of years ago.

eh..i just got done listening listening to Lemhead on BAD.net and i think there was a couple of lines that qualify for the next "ya know" award, or at least need consideration. But you could give him a break considering he is dead. never listen